Mid summer: August - Estilo Palma

It’s true, I have a knack for pop-up stores. I like to be surprised by their sudden, unexpected appearance in a supposedly familiar environment, and by their fancy set-ups, inviting you to come in spontaneously. While we are used to the overall availability of things, pop-up stores challenge this concept with the idea of the exclusive and finite, and they play with our curiosity. If you hesitate and postpone your visit you might be out of luck because the store has already closed again.

Better (Es Mejor) knows about all this. The young agency from Madrid designs concepts for temporary shops only. Such as August – a pop-up store designed for Spanish seaside cities – as Julio, one of the store managers, told me. After a successful kick-off in Sotogrande in 2014, this year Better chose Palma. From July 15 to September 15, August has assembled a unique collection of the most pretty things in the building next to Rialto Living on Carrer de l’ Estanc.

Wandering through the beautifully decorated rooms, you almost forget that August is a shop and not an exhibition. But everything is for sale: the cute drawings in the small library section, the colorful small stools and the folding chai with the traditional Llengos fabrics, randomly positioned in the shady patio, luring you to come in and relax. You’ll find stylish summer fashion for women and men as well as fine cashmere coats and sweaters, shoes, hats and bags, jewelry, and cosmetics. Most of it comes from young Spanish brands, many of them avantgarde, and there is some vintage from Southern France as well. Cool stuff for hot days.